So the wife was out of town and I was excited to hang out at a race all day with some XXX'ers and planned on doing two races.

I didn't have the greatest start in the cat 3's race and by the 2nd lap, I was sitting around 20th. But then I was able to move up on the straight aways and the couple of small little climbs. Finally, I reached the lead group of 4while two other guys were off. The course was great and suited me well for the bad start, I got lucky there. It was a very painful 6th place, however.

After that excruciating race, I was second guessing whether to do the 1/2/3's race and just donate my $10 to the ChiCrossCup. But, I thought this whole race-thing is ending in 2 weeks so I need to race as much as I can or wait until March. I lined up not knowing what to expect. Well, those dudes in that group rode off like stallions in the countryside of some old western movie. I never saw them again. However, I did have one good partner next to me, Brian Parker. This guy is the fricken Picasso of down hill decent on the cross bike. He was coming around the corners so smooth like he was painting a master piece and I was taking notes and eventually catching up on the small climbs and straightaways. Half way through of the 60 minute race and with my legs cramping up (that hasn't happened in a long time), Mike Seguin starts handing out primes for our little two man group: a nice cold cup of stout beer for each person leading the next lap. Parker won most of them but I did get the last one which was probably the best tasting beer I've had in a long time.